Walking along the Damrak or in the heart of the city centre of Amsterdam reveals a lot of clothing stores, pizza shops, waffel stands and shops selling fries and hamburgers. The Amsterdam City Council has decided that 'enough is enough', and now a ban is in the works.
With the support of a lot of Amsterdammers, the City Council intends to reduce the amount of businesses catering to the needs of tourists and tourists alone. They intend to make the city friendly to both tourists and the inhabitants of the city.
The ban would apply to more than 40 streets covered with ticket shops, bike rentals and shops selling food to tourists. The idea was put forward by the deputy Mayor of Amsterdam, Kasja Ollongren.
"We thought we had to do something about the rising amount of businesses focusing on only tourists, amidst complaints from residents who feel that there are no longer shops catering to their needs in their direct vicinity", she said.
The ban would also see tourists evenly scattered over different parts of the city as the council looks to sanction less city centre hotels. A lot of residents have also complained about a hike in the price of food and other products due to the rising amount of tourists in the Amsterdam city centre. "These prices, popularly called, 'tourist prices' are usually unreasonable", said the residents who find it rather unfair that they have to pay them.
Furthermore, housing in the city centre area isn't cheap and rent on shops seems to be rising every year. Many more reasons have been cited to the effect that the City Council has decided that a ban must be put on these businesses.
A lot of Amsterdam residents see the ban as a step in the right direction. The question still remains, if it will be a success. To that, the answer is , wait and see.
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